


Precious Things

by ideallyqualia



Series: UshiShira [13]
Category: Haikyuu!!, Hatoful Kareshi | Hatoful Boyfriend
Genre: Alternate Universe - Birds, Alternate Universe - Fusion, Alternate Universe - Hatoful Boyfriend Fusion, Baking, Birds, M/M, Miscommunication, Plants, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-18
Updated: 2016-12-18
Packaged: 2018-09-09 12:44:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8891233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ideallyqualia/pseuds/ideallyqualia
Summary: There exist fundamental differences between Shirabu and other sentient beings known as birds.





	

**Author's Note:**

> this is exactly what it sounds like. ushishira hatoful au. shirabu’s the only human. i once saw someone complain that hatoful boyfriend isn't "weird" enough (as in, the birds were really just humans in bird bodies, they didn't sound like they were truly birds), so i tried to approach that weirdness. this is a hatoful crossover, so you'd have to suspend your beliefs of reality regardless of what approach i took.
> 
> bird species are important. here are everyone's species, and visuals since everyone probably needs them:
> 
> ushijima: [african grey](https://twitter.com/donchan08041/status/775168452847886337) here's a [second](https://twitter.com/vanilla_crow/status/790008843296083969) since i rly love this bird  
> reon: [senegal parrot](https://twitter.com/P_C_LEON/status/734758708123734016)  
> goshiki: [blue parakeet](https://twitter.com/pap3oyo/status/803004985025830912)  
> yamagata: [red capped lory](https://twitter.com/Nuts0634/status/803239522897014784)  
> kawanishi: [umbrella cockatoo](https://twitter.com/77mgu/status/794485751182397440) (this isn't actually an umbrella cockatoo but i haven't seen any kawanishi-like videos of them recently, so this is close enough)  
> tendou: [moluccan cockatoo](https://twitter.com/torino_asobiba/status/781256283600982016)  
> semi: [cockatiel](https://twitter.com/LittleMy918/status/796218398795403265)

Ushijima meant well. Shirabu knew every time Ushijima offered food it was out of the goodness of his charitable heart. Ushijima couldn't stand mundane injustices, and being unable to understand them stirred him into frustration.

The box of food on Shirabu's desk was inedible. Shirabu tried not to focus on the contents.

"This is very kind of you, Ushijima, but I don't eat bugs," he said slowly as he gauged Ushijima's reaction.

Ushijima didn't deflate. He remained in front of Shirabu's desk, his head held slightly high with bright eyes. "That's fine. But you should eat your produce and grains." Ushijima nudged the box forward with his head.

Shirabu pinched his nose. "I already have food. I'm not going to eat that."

"But--"

"Here, _you_ eat it." Shirabu picked up a carrot wedge and stuffed it into Ushijima's open and still-talking beak.

Ushijima's words muffled and cut off, and he wobbled in surprise, eyes slightly widening. He recovered and ate it.

"Shirabu, I--"

Shirabu gave him another vegetable. Ushijima still didn't react in time, and he ended up eating again. He bit it into pieces and swallowed, and Shirabu offered more vegetables until Ushijima accepted it and just ate, letting Shirabu feed him by hand.

When Shirabu re-uncovered the insect-infested box bottom, he grimaced and handed it over. "Every time you try to give me some, I _never_ want to eat any."

Ushijima dipped his head into the box to finish eating. Shirabu angled away and crossed his arms.

Tendou was sitting at the desk next to them. Shirabu met his eyes as he turned, and Tendou acknowledged him with obnoxious cawing laughter.

"Don't want to try a bug or two?"

" _No._ "

"How about bird seed? Millet?"

"No."

"You're so stubborn." Tendou clacked his beak. "We eat all _your_ human food."

"Don't literally eat mine."

As if reminded of his hunger, he returned to eating. He flapped his wings to resettle and collect them to himself, and he sent a flurry of feathers radiating outward. Semi swatted them away.

"You're molting all over my salad," Semi complained.

Ushijima managed to empty the lunch box, and he moved on to the rest of his original lunch. He carried his food in a decorated mascot bento box, with the handle hanging in his beak every morning in the flight to school. Most of the other students stuffed their lunches in their school bags. Ushijima still toted his bag in his claws for the morning commute, but he was careful to care for them separately. Especially when he brought along extra food for Shirabu. Those days, he struggled to fly with multiple loads in his feet and beak.

Shirabu sighed. "If you're hungry enough to eat what you brought for me, you should just pack more for yourself."

"I'm usually not hungry enough to warrant that."

"You're a huge bird, and you eat more than Goshiki and Semi combined. Pack more. Tendou eats a ton too."

Ushijima shifted on his feet. "I'll eat more."

Shirabu tore off a chunk of bread from his sandwich and offered it to Ushijima. He shook his head.

"I don't want any."

"Just eat it." Shirabu insisted and nudged it into Ushijma's beak.

Ushijima couldn't refuse him, so he paused and took his time to eat it. He dignified himself with the same balance and attention as always, staring ahead and still, patiently sitting down on his feet until his legs disappeared under his feathers.

Lunch ended, and Shirabu mumbled goodbye to them and returned to his own classroom. Kawanishi turned and greeted him.

"Hey. Anything new happen?"

Shirabu shook his head as he slid into his chair. "No. Just Tendou being obnoxious."

"Glad I didn't go." Kawanishi scratched his head with his foot. The head curl downward and foot scratch high to the head always struck Shirabu as doglike, but he could never bring himself to admit it.

"You were trying to finish your homework, weren't you?"

Kawanishi grunted. "It's only the second time this semester that I had to use lunchtime for homework."

"Uh-huh."

Kawanishi hopped off his desk and flitted to Shirabu's desk. He twitched.

Shirabu silenced him by patting his head. Kawanishi tried to ignore it. He turned his head with a pointed look away, his eyes flat and beak twisted. He gave in and relaxed, warbling as his feathers reacted to the loosening ease with a wave of fluff.

"Has anyone ever told you that you're easy to manipulate and silence?" Shirabu asked.

Kawanishi pushed him off and pecked at the bottom of his hand. "I'm never letting you anywhere near me again."

Shirabu withdrew right away. Kawanishi flapped back to his desk in a huff.

At the end of class, Kawanishi hopped onto Shirabu's shoulder and made Shirabu carry him to Ushijima and Tendou's classroom. Shirabu didn't comment on it.

At their arrival, Ushijima dragged his bag and box to sidle to Shirabu's shoes. The sound of his feet clicking on the floor drew Shirabu's attention, and he watched Ushijima walk his little walk with his small legs. Tendou reacted a beat behind, and he sloppily hooked his bag strap on his wing and flapped onto Shirabu's arm. He hurried to scuttle up the sleeve of Shirabu's jacket, but Shirabu grabbed him and fumbled to pull him off.

"What're you doing?"

"Catching a ride," Tendou chirped as he tried to continue climbing.

Shirabu pried him off and held him out. "You're too heavy." He lowered Tendou near a desk, but he still dropped him a considerable distance to make him squawk.

Ushijima cocked his head to peer at them. "I think it's for the best that you leave him alone."

After Tendou leapt back to the floor, he puffed his chest. " _Yeah_ , Kenjirou."

"I was talking about you leaving Shirabu alone."

Tendou gasped. His wings unfolded in surprise, but he gathered them back, and he recalculated Ushijima with a critical squint. "Oh, I see. You like to play favorites."

"That's not what I'm doing."

"Of course it is. You're so simple-minded, how can you not have favorites?" Tendou flapped his wings and bounced around him. When he began to crow an off-key song to accompany his dancing, Shirabu stuck his foot out to stop him. Tendou bumped into him with an audible _oof_.

Shirabu sighed. "I'm going." He removed Kawanishi and placed him next to Tendou. "You can get your own ride, too."

"Thanks a lot," Kawanishi muttered to Tendou.

He left without waiting for them. Wingbeats followed him, but he couldn't tell if it was all three of them or just two or one. He didn't find out until he came to the front door of the school and held it open for a flock of students leaving for the day, Ushijima, Tendou, and Kawanishi included. The three of them slowed and perched on a fence.

"Kenjirou, where's your school spirit? Don't you have club activities?" Tendou asked as Shirabu approached.

"Semi and Goshiki canceled it for today."

Ushijima's curiosity compelled him to lean forward. "Are they allowed do that?"

"Probably not." Shirabu shrugged and turned to walk down the sidewalk. They flapped and hopped after him.

"Y'know," Tendou said after a minute, "you're the best cook in the world, Kenjirou."

"I'm not making you anything."

"What if we're hungry?" Kawanishi asked.

"You can get your own food."

"What if we're dying and your food is the only cure?"

Shirabu raised an eyebrow at Kawanishi. "If that's true, then I would've been really rich by now from being able to make miracle food. I never would've gone to school. So we would've never met."

"Dear god, I was being hypothetical and I was also joking."

Tendou hurried ahead to appear by Shirabu's feet, turning his head up to look at him. He extended his wings. "It's unfair that you have arms and fingers perfect for baking us bread, and you don't do it."

Shirabu's eyes shifted down on him. "I can step on you."

"You wouldn't have the guts." Tendou snickered.

"It might be on accident."

"If you haven't stepped on a bird by accident already, it's not gonna happen."

Shirabu ignored him and redirected his attention on Ushijima. He had been silent throughout most of the walk, his eyes on the slowly-passing scenery, the bushes and branches low enough to sweep near his head. Most of the native flowers closed their bulbs in the coming fall, and almost all the tree leaves had slipped into warm reds and autumnal orange colors.

"You haven't said anything for a while," Shirabu said.

Ushijima drew his head away from the plants. "I don't have anything to say."

"Did you hear a word Tendou said?"

"...No," Ushijima confessed.

Shirabu paused to let Ushijima readjust his hold on his school bag, and Tendou stopped with him. This was the fifth time that Ushijima had slowed to fix it. Shirabu grumbled and crouched to meet him.

"Let me take it. I can carry a billion things your size."

Ushijima's wings helplessly fell from them as Shirabu pulled them away from him. He still tried to protest and hold his bento box, but the handle slipped from his feathers.

Tendou offered his school bag with his beak. "Can you take mine?" he asked in a muffled voice.

Shirabu still heard him. "No."

"But you helped Wakatoshi."

"I like helping him."

Tendou mumbled into the fabric of the strap in his beak.

Shirabu rearranged Ushijima's belongings in his arms and resumed walking. Ushijima fell quiet. He shuffled his wings to reoccupy himself, unable to settle and relax as Shirabu carried everything for him. He tilted his head up to watch Shirabu handle his load.

From Ushijima's angle on the floor he saw Shirabu as a giant, so his perspective distorted Shirabu into almost nothing but his legs and some of his stomach, with his head far above him. Ushijima flapped his wings idly. He had a much better view if he flew or perched on something. Shirabu's voice still carried down below, but Ushijima preferred seeing his face instead of walking by his feet, straining his head up or just looking at his pants.

They passed Kawanishi's street first, and Kawanishi bid them goodbye and left. Tendou's and Ushijima's street came second on the next block, and Tendou separated from them.

"See ya tomorrow," Tendou said as he stepped away.

"See you, Tendou." Ushijima waved a wing.

Shirabu and Ushijima continued on their own. Ushijima's feet alternated with a slight bounce, almost cheerfully.

"What's your favorite kind of bread?" Shirabu asked.

"Why do you ask?"

"If I'm going to be making anything at all, I'd rather make it specific to you so Tendou can't enjoy it."

"Oh." Ushijima fidgeted with his wings. "You don't need to do that."

"It's not that difficult to do." Shirabu shrugged. "So what's your favorite?"

"I don't have a favorite."

Shirabu licked his lips and twitched. Ushijima stared until he realized Shirabu was fighting a smile.

"Tendou said you're so simple-minded that you have favorites."

"I don't think so."

"And I think he's right. You're so simple. Of course you fix on one thing to love." Shirabu hardened his resolve to face ahead, angling slightly away. "I'm just going to try and guess, then."

"But I don't have a favorite..."

"Okay. What does Tendou hate, then?"

Ushijima refused to answer for a space of time. "I can't say."

"You can't shield him from food he doesn't like."

"I'm not protecting him. I honestly can't say. I don't know what he hates." Ushijima spread his wings to stretch them.

Shirabu stopped when they came to Ushijima's porch. "Like I said, I'll just guess, then."

"Thank you for walking me home," Ushijima said. He dipped his head, and then raised his wings and looked at Shirabu with unwavering eyes to silently ask for his belongings back.

Shirabu handed them to him and left to head home.

 

* * *

 

For the past few days, Shirabu kept bringing homemade bread to school to give to Ushijima. He didn't know if this could be considered "being spoiled" or not. It was definitely a treat to eat fresh and custom bread, different every day, but it filled him up when his own lunch didn't. He couldn't decide if that was being spoiled or just eating the right amount of food.

Shirabu deposited a package of bread onto Ushijima's desk. "Here's some apple bread for today."

Ushijima nosed his beak into it to nudge it open. After a slow glance inside and a sniff, he relocated it to the floor beside his actual lunch, allocating them both for lunchtime. "Thank you."

Shirabu snorted. He noticed Ushijima's reluctance to setting it aside instead of eating it right away. "You should really just pack bigger lunches."

Ushijima righted in his seat and looked ahead at the board. "I did."

"Don't you get it, Kenjirou?" Tendou asked from his seat. "Give a bird food, and they'll just keep eating. Give up or give in."

"I understand that being true for _you_. Or Goshiki." Shirabu took out his notebook and pencils from his backpack.

"Are you kidding? Tsutomu can barely eat as much as we can. He's a tiny little bird." Tendou waved his claw at Ushijima. "Big strong birds need tons of food. He's ruining the economy."

Shirabu grumbled and scooted away from Tendou's desk. He chose to occupy himself with writing the date at the top of his notebook paper, and straightening the pencils.

Tendou made a low cackle. No one responded. He cackled again.

Shirabu sighed heavily and turned. "What is it."

"Has anyone ever asked you what your favorite animal is?" Tendou asked. He leaned over his desk inquisitively, head tilted in Shirabu's direction. Ushijima moved as slowly as possible to mimic him but not alert Shirabu.

"No," Shirabu said flatly.

"What is it?"

"It's a horse."

Tendou sat higher with wide eyes. "Really?"

"No, it's a _bird_. What'd you expect? That I hate you all?"

Tendou shrugged. "It'd explain a lot of things."

Ushijima leaned further out of his seat, edging closer with reluctance to hide his curiosity. "What's your favorite kind of bird?"

"I don't think I should say that."

Ushijima cocked his head and blinked. "Why not?"

"Whatever I say, I can't win. I'll just be giving Tendou ammunition."

"Oh."

"Look at him," Tendou said, gesturing at Ushijima with a wing flourish. "You've made Wakatoshi sad. You should just fess up."

"I'm not sad."

"You don't have to lie to me, Wakatoshi."

Shirabu rubbed his eyes and muttered. He withdrew from talking to either of them until lunch, when Ushijima opened his food and expressed contented silence.

Ushijima tore through some of the bread in ravenous bites, ripping off pieces and gobbling them. He didn't start taking his time until he finished half of the bread. Then he relaxed into nibbling.

Shirabu raised an eyebrow. "Enjoying it?"

"Very much."

"So is this one your favorite?"

Ushijima lifted his head, his beak covered in crumbs. "If you won't say your favorite bird, then I won't tell you my favorite bread."

Shirabu twitched. "Wow, that's underhanded."

Ushijima continued eating instead of answering. Shirabu gave up and watched Ushijima sink his beak into the bread. He took his time, softly breaking pieces off and pausing to shift them in his beak. He glanced around to occupy the amount of time for chewing. After a minute, he wiped the crumbs off his beak so he could eat them.

Shirabu ignored them to eat his own lunch.

 

* * *

 

 

The temperature dropped over a few weeks as fall slipped into winter. Occasionally thick grey storm clouds gathered, and snow fell, but it was still too warm for anything to stick to the ground and form a white blanketed landscape.

Shirabu sat on a bench and waited for his friends to arrive. Ushijima appeared first, flapping through the sky with a small black scarf wrapped around his neck. He landed on the armrest closest to Shirabu.

"Do you know where Tendou is?" Shirabu asked.

Ushijima shook his head. "No." He turned his head and groomed himself, rearranging his scarf from the wind's work. He stopped to give Shirabu undivided attention. "Were you waiting here for very long?"

"No, just a couple minutes."

"That's good." Ushijima spread his wing and zipped his beak through the feathers.

Shirabu looked at his scarf. "Are you cold?"

"A little."

"It's not exactly winter yet."

"That doesn't mean I can't be cold," Ushijima said, his voice suddenly deep and sharp. He blinked, his eyelids heavy and slow, as close to an unforceful glare as he could manage.

"I didn't mean it like that. I was going to ask if you wanted me to hold you."

Ushijima straightened. "Really? Why?"

"I hate being warm, and it's kind of warm right now. Your feathers are cold, right?"

"I don't know. I can't tell. They're my own feathers." Ushijima pressed a wing to his face to feel them.

Shirabu moved to test a hand on Ushijima's back. Instead, he found a small backpack strapped to Ushijima. He poked at it.

"Why'd you bring a backpack?"

"I didn't want to leave home without a few things." Ushijima switched feet on his perch. "What if we get lost? I brought my cell phone."

"Can you even reach your backpack without help?"

Ushijima reached his beak around to demonstrate. He removed the straps from both wings, held it in his beak to show Shirabu, and then struggled to fit it back on.

"I brought my phone, too, you know."

Ushijima stared at him, unconvinced. "Did you charge it?"

" _Yes_ , I charged it."

"Tendou always forgets to charge his." Ushijima's feathers puffed up and ruffled as he shook them.

Shirabu's hand approached him again to feel his feathers. After a brief touch, he pulled away.

"Your feathers are cold. Aren't they supposed to keep you warm?"

"It's cold outside." Ushijima swayed to move closer. He paused and hesitated, his head lowered to Shirabu's arm, but Shirabu made no move to push him away despite the obvious intent. Ushijima continued and pressed the side of his head onto Shirabu's arm.

He lifted his head back up. "You're warm. Bare skin shouldn't be warm in the cold weather."

"I am aware." Shirabu rubbed his hand over the place on his arm where Ushijima touched. "I'm just warm all the time. This is why I barely wear jackets."

Ushijima ground his beak. "You should."

"I don't need to."

"You don't even have feathers." Ushijima rose, standing up from sitting on his feet. He restlessly rocked side to side on them.

"Don't be ridiculous. Of course I don't have any feathers. I don't need them at all."

Ushijima nudged his head under Shirabu's head, hesitance gone. He flicked to shove Shirabu's hand up. "You don't understand how to keep yourself warm."

Shirabu's hand withdrew. "What're you doing?"

"You said I can sit on you, and you also need to be warm. This solves both." Ushijima clambered off the armrest onto Shirabu's leg. He carefully picked his way to Shirabu's lap, keeping his claws spread instead of digging them in. When he reached his desired place, he leaned his head back to look up at Shirabu.

"Do you feel any warmer yet?" Shirabu asked.

"Not yet." Ushijima stepped closer until he could rest against Shirabu's chest. He allowed a moment to pass in case Shirabu wanted to refuse. Nothing happened, and Ushijima went ahead and curled his neck in, huddling to Shirabu while simultaneously reaching an arc in his neck that signified a desire for a head scratch.

Shirabu's mouth wobbled as he placed his hand on Ushijima's head, wavering between a confused frown and a twitch. "Are all birds so pushy and fussy?"

"Haven't you met enough to decide that opinion for yourself?"

"I think the only birds I'm close enough to be able to see anything like that are...well, you. And maybe Tendou and Goshiki, but they're terrible examples."

Ushijima gathered himself closer to Shirabu. "Is that so..."

Shirabu ruffled his neck feathers to gently scratch him. 

Semi appeared and alighted on the vacated armrest. "Where're the others?"

"Not here yet," Shirabu said.

Semi hopped to spin around, directing attention away and keeping an eye out for the rest of their group.

Every time Shirabu petted someone, he expected someone nearby to get unnerved, but _everyone_ preened so often and were so used to scratching each other and reciprocating that Shirabu ended up being the one unsettled. Semi didn't notice anything different -- or, didn't realize anything _should_ be different -- until he swept his eyes back to Shirabu and found him uncomfortable and stiff, Shirabu's gaze hard enough that it could be mistaken for a glare.

"What's gotten into you?" Semi asked.

"Nothing."

"You're scratching too hard," Ushijima said quietly.

Shirabu relented and stopped scratching altogether, opting to rub Ushijima's neck. Ushijima accepted the change and relaxed under Shirabu's hand.

Semi sighed heavily. "Whatever you say, Shirabu." He returned to scouting.

Minutes later, Tendou, Goshiki, Reon, Kawanishi, and Yamagata had arrived and flocked around Shirabu on the bench. Goshiki flitted to stand beside Ushijima.

"My mouth hurts," Goshiki told him.

"What happened?"

"I fell asleep with a large piece of an apple in my beak, and it got really sore." Goshiki stretched his beak open and held it there as he stretched his wings, his entire body shaking and eyes watering in a yawn.

Shirabu snorted. Tendou screeched laughter, delayed after Shirabu's, and Shirabu covered his ears.

"So are we all ready to go?" Reon asked. "It might snow today, so we should hurry up."

"You can't _hurry_ adventuring," Tendou said. He scoffed.

Shirabu stared ahead with bored half-open eyes, absent-mindedly petting Ushijima. Neither of them commented.

"Fine. Let's go," Kawanishi said. He flapped into the air and circled around the bench to wait for everyone else.

Shirabu kept his promise and stood with Ushijima in his arms, holding him so he faced forward. Kawanishi descended from his flight and landed on his shoulder. Goshiki watched, and after a few seconds passed without repercussions, Goshiki took his other shoulder. Shirabu shook and windmilled his shoulders.

"You can't _all_ hitch a ride."

"Do they actually weigh so much that it bothers you?" Yamagata asked.

"No. That's not the point. I'm not a car or sled."

"Sled? That's interesting," Tendou said. He plopped on Shirabu's head and hung upside down to come face to face. "Why sled?"

"Get _off_." Shirabu raised his arms to push him off, but with his hands occupied from Ushijima, he couldn't reach too far up.

Tendou cackled. "Nice try."

Shirabu bent over to buck him off, and everyone but Ushijima fell, accompanied by a cacophony of shrieks and squawks.

"Okay, we can't do that," Tendou said with a titter from the floor.

"Obviously." Shirabu straightened and readjusted Ushijima in his arms. "So where is this place we're going?"

"It's a creek by the hills past the mall," Yamagata answered.

"Great." Shirabu started walking.

Tendou and Reon walked beside him on the floor, waddling at a slightly hurried pace to keep up. Yamagata and Semi leapt from tree branch to branch and hopped around them. Only Goshiki flew in the air, zipping around Shirabu's head and chirping loudly enough to carry to his ears. Kawanishi managed to find himself estate on Shirabu's shoulder without bothering Shirabu or compelling him to knock him off again.

Shirabu's shoulders rose with tense irritation. "Do you _have_ to fly around my head like that?"

Goshiki chirped louder. "What's wrong with me flying?"

"It's just annoying."

Tendou raised his head to them and slowly twisted it. "Didn't y'know, Tsutomu? This is what you call paranoia. Kenjirou's paranoid."

"No I'm not."

Goshiki flew around Shirabu's head to the other side. "You think I'm going to fly into your head?"

"That's not why it's annoying, but I wouldn't put it past you." Shirabu stepped away to dodge him.

He lapsed into silence. Everyone else expressed wordless noises, chirping and tweeting to their hearts' content, but he didn't say anything. Ushijima didn't, either.

Ushijima dropped his head backward into Shirabu. His eyes flicked up to him. "Are you still not cold?"

"I'm not cold."

"You should be." Ushijima fixed him with a stern stare. The upside-down angle didn't have much effect.

The creek came into view. At its appearance, everyone except for Ushijima beat their wings into a sudden whirlwind away to the other side of the creek. Ushijima remained still.

"Why did you guys even want to come here?"

"We wanted to show you something." Ushijima began to wriggle, and Shirabu released him and let him flap to the water bank.

Ushijima hopped to turn around and wait for Shirabu to catch up. As Shirabu walked and carefully adjusted his feet to the declining slope, Ushijima paused every couple steps.

Once Shirabu arrived at the edge of the bank, he looked across and saw a wooden swing hanging from a thick tree branch. The swing seat stretched wide, with a wooden back the same length. Nothing about it suggested that it was a child's swingset. It creaked with the wind and rocked at a slow pace, and its leisurely design and decaying wood indicated it couldn't swing with the full speed a playground swing could.

Goshiki flew back and forth above the other side of the creek. "C'mon Shirabu! You have to see this!"

"I can see it from over here," Shirabu said.

"You have to be over here!" Goshiki bobbed up and down in the air.

Shirabu couldn't stand Goshiki's rising squeaks of attention. He made to move to the other side, and Goshiki settled down, satisfied.

Shirabu wobbled on the flat raised stones barely jutting out of the water. Some of them shook under his weight. He avoided one pile of unstable stones, but he was still short from the shore. He attempted to extend his leg to a far away stone, and he stumbled, unable to reach. He tripped and landed ankle deep in the water.

Tendou and Semi laughed. "All that work, and you're still soaking anyway!" Tendou exclaimed.

Shirabu alternated lifting his feet to feel the dampness. "Only my shoes are wet."

Tendou surged up to the air from his tree branch and flapped around Shirabu's head, his wings beating in carefree movement as he chortled. He opened his beak, and with every huff of air out in laughter, his voice swelled. "Don't your feet get squishy and gross?"

Shirabu grimaced. "My _shoes_ do."

Tendou perched on Shirabu's shoulder and leaned into him, pressing the side of his head against Shirabu's ear. "Human feet are so weird. You need feet on your feet."

Shirabu pushed him away. "You can't ride me if you're going to insult me."

"Why do you need shoes?"

"Haven't you ever seen feet before?"

Tendou glanced down at his scaly feet. He raised one and opened and closed the claw. "Like this, I have."

"Why don't you take off your shoes and show us what your feet look like?" Goshiki asked.

Shirabu waded onto land. "I'm not taking off my shoes."

"Ignore them and get up here," Semi said. He sidestepped back and forth on his tree branch.

Shirabu trudged up the slope and stopped underneath the tree almost everyone was perching in. Yamagata flipped and spun to hang upside down. He pointed his beak at the swing under them.

"So what is that?" Yamagata asked. "It's too big for us to do anything with it."

Shirabu rubbed his hand over his forehead and drew it over his hair. "Is this honestly why you brought me all the way out here?"

"So, can you do anything with it?" Reon asked, tilting his head.

Shirabu stared at him long enough to demonstrate his dry irritation. It faded into a sigh. "Fine, I'll push you guys on the swing. Get on."

Kawanishi rose on his feet, his crest fanning up in interest. "Is that what it is?"

"Just get on and see."

Everyone gathered together in the middle of the swing seat. Semi anchored himself to Ushijima's side, proactive against his small size. Tendou flattened his feet on the wood and marveled.

Shirabu gently pushed on the swing. Everyone swayed with the momentum, and some of them raised their heads in alarm. Ushijima's reacted mildly, glancing around with slightly wide eyes, taller with his feathers flattened down. Shirabu paused to snort.

"This is...oddly relaxing," Kawanishi said.

Goshiki stirred. "Can you go faster?"

"I'm not a machine or the wind," Shirabu complained. "I can't do this forever." He complied anyway. He pushed more forcefully, which carried them faster, but it also translated Shirabu's brief reluctance.

He watched their heads bob up and down with the swing, rocking back and forth. Tendou exaggerated the movement and swayed a dancing rhythm, pronouncing it by flicking his tail.

Goshiki wandered forward on the swing set. He leaned into the oncoming wind with the likeness of a dog sticking its head out the window.

"Watch it, Goshiki, you might fall off," Shirabu said.

"But I can just fly before I hit the ground."

Shirabu rumbled but dropped it. "How long am I supposed to keep doing this?"

Yamagata waved a wing. "We'll tell you when you're done."

Shirabu grimaced. "I'm going to get tired soon."

"You can stop when that happens," Reon said.

"I'm starting to think I should hate birds," Shirabu muttered as he shoved the swing.

Goshiki teetered close to the edge, and at the sudden lurch in speed, he flew off the swing and flipped in the air. The strong wind sustained him and carried him past the creek.

Shirabu pulled back from the swing. He didn't bother to apologize or mention he was stopping, and he ran after Goshiki. Tendou squawked encouragement at Shirabu.

Shirabu sloshed through the creek and wound around a couple trees until he found Goshiki upside-down in a cluster of branches. He stopped in front of the tree.

"Is it really that easy for you to get blown away by the wind?" Shirabu asked.

Goshiki rustled and moved his head, but Shirabu couldn't tell what he was doing from the upside-down angle.

"This happens a lot." Goshiki huffed. "What should I do? What does Ushijima do?"

Shirabu clawed his hands into the bark to try to find a grip and climb. The bark scratched at his skin, and he couldn't find any reliable gaps to make or grab. He crossed his arms and stood back to survey the tree. "Can't you fly down on your own? I can't climb trees."

Goshiki fumbled and rolled to find his body weight on his feet again. He clacked his beak. "Do you think if I ate more, I wouldn't get blown away?"

"I doubt that you can make yourself heavy enough. You're just a small bird."

Goshiki gestured at Shirabu with a vague wing motion. "Can you hold your hand out?"

"Why?"

"The wind's strong. It might blow me away again."

Shirabu held out his hands with mild effort, elbows bent but slack, palms up. Goshiki flapped off the branch. Instead of collecting the wind under his wings to lighten himself and take flight, he let himself drop into Shirabu's hands.

Shirabu startled. "Why didn't you just _fly_?"

Goshiki raised his head. "Isn't it easier to get blown away if I'm flying instead of just falling?"

"I have no idea," Shirabu admitted.

Goshiki spurred into a sudden frenzy and sent tiny wisps of feathers everywhere as he scrambled to climb Shirabu's arm and reach his shoulder before Shirabu could stop or scold him. Shirabu watched for a few moments, but he didn't stop Goshiki. He started walking and headed back to the swing.

Everyone remained in the same place they had been before Shirabu left. Ushijima was folding his wings behind his back to stretch them with a pleased noise of approval. Semi still hovered near him.

"Here he is." Shirabu deposited Goshiki with a slight nudge, tilting his hands to let gravity pull Goshiki down and plop him in a pile of feathers.

Reon trodded over to greet him. "Are you alright, Tsutomu?"

"Yeah, I'm okay." Goshiki fluffed up and shook himself to get rid of dust.

Shirabu stared at them all. "Do I have to still push the swing?"

"Yes," Kawanishi said.

Shirabu glanced at Ushijima and saw him failing to hide his interest, leaning forward with his eyes on Shirabu. Beside him, Semi and Goshiki prepared to hang on to him for more swinging.

"If I said no, would everyone just attack me until I did?"

"I would," Tendou said.

Shirabu grudgingly walked around to the back of the swing and continued pushing it.

 

* * *

 

Shirabu woke up to autumn leaves in winter snow. The trees hadn't finished abandoning their foliage for the season-long frost, so the ground was continuously upgrading with littered leaves, but the fresh and sudden overnight snow layered over the latest leaf-fall.

Shirabu bundled himself up and headed outside. The cold still lingered enough to freeze his breath into visible mist.

He trudged down the street and onto Tendou's porch. For reasons Shirabu never understood, birds were generous with hosting parties, and Tendou decided to have one today. They were about as loud as a normal gathering of birds, including typical loudness of squawking and chirping. They were also as normal as any time spent with birds, barely justifying the title 'party.' The only difference was the excuse to chew paper and occasionally have cake.

Tendou opened the door. "Hey Kenjirou. You came."

"I always come," Shirabu said as he walked past him.

Tendou kicked the door closed. Shirabu caught a glimpse of him kicking with full force, flapping up and kicking horizontally with both feet landing on the door to shove it closed.

Shirabu ducked into the living room and found everyone perched on the backs of chairs instead of sitting on them. Ushijima held a chunk of apple in his foot, and he ate from it with his head turned down to his foot.

"You guys are the most boring friends I've ever had." Shirabu dumped his bag on the floor and sat in Kawanishi's chair.

He slouched against the chair's back until his head hit Kawanishi's feet. Kawanishi shifted and grumbled.

"Can't you take someone else's chair? This one's mine."

Shirabu glanced up, his mouth open. "Are you kidding me? You try to sit on my shoulder all the time and almost rip it up with your claws."

Kawanishi looked down at him to return the gaze. His eyes remained as deep as ever, black and swimming in flatness, but the extended length of his stare told Shirabu that Kawanishi didn't believe what he was hearing.

Kawanishi tilted his head. "But birds are supposed to perch everywhere."

"Not on your _friends_."

"Why not? Your shoulder's comfortable."

Shirabu pointed at Tendou. "If you think perching on your friends is okay, then do it on him."

"He's too small."

"He's your size."

"Please don't make Kawanishi stand on Tendou," Ushijima interrupted.

Shirabu retreated to sit on the edge of the seat, away from Kawanishi. "Fine."

"Can I still stand on your head? I barely weigh anything," Semi said.

"No."

A beach ball lobbed into the side of Shirabu's head. He whirled and fixed his glare at whoever stood behind where it came from. Tendou waved a wing back at him.

"You're supposed to hit it back to me, Kenjirou!"

"You should give a warning!" He picked it up and threw it back at Tendou. Despite the full force, it floated harmlessly above him, and he leapt up to thump it with his beak, assisted by his wings.

Goshiki flapped up to join in and hit it, but the ball overpowered him, and he fell backward to the floor with the ball on top of him. Almost everyone burst out laughing.

Shirabu stomped to his feet and removed the ball from Goshiki. "Aren't any of you ever concerned about messing around?"

"Nothing even happens," Kawanishi said.

"I can't believe you guys managed to stay alive this whole time before I came along."

Yamagata shrugged. "We know how to live."

Shirabu ignored his response and left to the kitchen to pour himself a cup of water, on his own accord without asking Tendou for permission. He opened the cabinet of cups and pitchers. Nothing in any bird's house was ever made out of glass, a fact that tested Shirabu's composure. The very first time he realized no one used glass, he was at Semi's house, and he laughed so hard that Semi scolded him and sent him home.

Shirabu returned and placed his cup on the table. He sat back down on Kawanishi's chair, and it disappeared from under him. He fell with a hard thump.

"You're going to need another chair," Kawanishi said, a hint of a suppressed laugh wavering in his voice. Shirabu leaned back and saw Kawanishi as he fluttered his wings to settle back on his perch.

"You moved a whole chair by yourself so quickly!" Goshiki exclaimed.

Shirabu relocated to Ushijima's chair. "I'll only trust Ushijima from now on."

Ushijima leaned forward and shifted his beak through Shirabu's hair. Shirabu ducked.

"What're you doing?"

"Preening your hair. Stay still."

Shirabu crossed his arms and sunk in his seat. "I'm not messy or dirty. I don't need you to do that."

"Please don't distract me," Ushijima responded.

Shirabu slouched. He didn't do it to avoid Ushijima, he just wanted to manifest physical grudging reluctance, but it drew Ushijima downward to follow him. Ushijima fumbled to keep his balance as he kept his beak in Shirabu's hair, beating his wings to stay in place. He fell forward anyway and collapsed on Shirabu's head.

His wings hung over both sides of Shirabu's head. Before Shirabu could react, Ushijima jerked back and distanced himself on his perch.

"Sorry," Ushijima said.

Shirabu patted his hands over his hair. "I don't feel a difference."

Tendou leaned forward with his head tilted, his eye shining mischievously. "Wakatoshi, doesn't his hair stink?"

"I don't think so."

Shirabu flattened his hands on his head. "No it doesn't."

"Dirty. I can smell it all the way over here."

"I showered this morning."

"With what? Rotten moss and toilet water?"

"Can moss rot?" Yamagata asked.

"I don't think so? It's just living outside," Semi said.

"Trees can definitely rot," Ushijima added.

Kawanishi leaned to Semi. "Why would you think outside things can't rot?"

Shirabu sat back in his chair and sighed heavily. They talked about moss for twenty minutes.

 

* * *

 

Shirabu rolled over in bed. It was a Saturday morning, and his alarm was timed to scare him awake at noon, but a few loud thuds on the window did the trick instead.

He shuffled to open the window. The freezing air managed to jog some alertness into him, and the image of Ushijima resolved beside the cloudy sky.

"Ushijima? What're you doing? It's early in the morning."

Ushijima ducked his head to fit inside the window. He perched on the sill. "There's only a half hour until noon. You should be awake by now."

"Well, I was asleep. You've done this so often, you should know I sleep in late on the weekend." Shirabu stepped aside and gestured for Ushijima to fly inside. He yawned and stretched.

Ushijima leapt onto Shirabu's desk. Shirabu stuck his head out the window, and immediately grimaced, jerked back, and yanked it shut.

Shirabu turned. "It's freezing outside. Did you fly out there?"

Ushijima stared at him. "I have feathers, Shirabu."

"Why'd you come here, anyway?"

Ushijima stepped away in side-to-side fashion, the angle of his head declining to a sheepish slope. He scratched his head with his foot.

Shirabu gave in and let it happen. "Do you want hot chocolate or coffee? I'm going to make some."

Ushijima faced him. "Please."

He hopped off the bed and followed Shirabu into the kitchen. Shirabu pretended to not notice, but he always spent a few moments to watch whenever birds hopped off things. They flapped their wings to balance for a tiny beat, and they still managed to stumble often.

Shirabu boiled milk and served them both hot chocolate. Ushijima huddled around the mug to absorb its warmth.

The first time Shirabu had offered it to Ushijima, he didn't drink it. He only enjoyed its warmth, and Shirabu couldn't convince him to try it. Shirabu still asked, and Ushijima still reacted the exact same way every time.

"Where's your scarf?" Shirabu asked as he stirred his drink.

Ushijima stood and inspected his neck with a glance. "Oh."

"'Oh'? Did you forget it?"

"I didn't notice it was gone. It must've fallen off from the wind."

Ushijima didn't sit back down. He walked in place, lifting his feet and accidentally scratching the table.

"Do you want to go look for it?"

"I can look for it later."

"Don't be ridiculous. The longer you wait, the harder it'll be to find. Come on." Shirabu hurried to his room to change clothes. By the time he made it to the entryway to grab his coat, Ushijima was waiting patiently next to the door.

"Here. I brought you a scarf." Shirabu lightly tossed it to him.

Ushijima closed his eyes and let it unfold over his head. It smothered him and obscured his face. Shirabu crouched to fix it for him, wrapping it around his body. It circled him and covered him from his neck to his tail.

"I can't wear this. It's too long. I can't fly." Ushijima fidgeted in it.

Shirabu shook his head and mumbled. He gathered Ushijima in his arms and hugged him to his chest. "Just keep an eye out for your scarf from here."

"Alright." Ushijima fell quiet and still.

Shirabu locked the door and trudged through the snow. "Which direction did you come from?"

Ushijima pointed with his beak.

"Does it usually fall off?"

"No. This is the first time." Ushijima shifted with a noise of disappointment.

The snow and wind nipped at them painfully alongside the bite of cold, but it still didn't approach storm levels of intolerability. Shirabu's arms and chest shielded Ushijima from most of the wind, and the snow fell in weak thin drifts. Ushijima's scarf definitely didn't get buried under the snowfall.

"I think I see it." Ushijima wriggled to point at it with his wing, but he gave up and used his beak again.

Shirabu stepped up to it. "It looks like yours."

Shirabu released him, and he landed in the snow, Shirabu's scarf unfolding alongside his wings. He struggled to kick his feet through the snow and to his scarf.

Shirabu gathered his own scarf and shook the snow off. When he wrapped it around himself, Ushijima returned and stood before his legs.

"It's back and safe."

"Good, let's go back. I'm hungry and didn't have breakfast yet."

"Oh, sorry for keeping you from it."

"It's not a big deal. I've barely been awake half an hour." Shirabu opened the door and let Ushijima hop inside.

Shirabu turned on the stove to boil water for soup. Ushijima trailed after him and watched him from the countertop. He leaned forward beak-first and peered over the stove, near the pot.

Shirabu nudged him away. "You're going to burn yourself."

Ushijima struggled against him, his face squashed against Shirabu's hand.

Shirabu removed his hand and caved with a sigh. "Do you want some?"

"Yes please." Ushijima nodded and reshuffled closer. He peeked inside again and sniffed.

"Can you actually smell it? I thought birds have a terrible sense of smell."

"It depends," Ushijima said as he stared at the soup, watching Shirabu dump in chopped vegetables. "Some birds have an excellent sense of smell. Mine's undeniably better than yours."

"Okay." Shirabu decided to ignore him until he finished.

After a few minutes of stirring and silence, Shirabu saw Ushijima withdraw and relocate to the table. Small muffled noises came from the table, but Shirabu didn't bother to see what it was.

Shirabu turned off the stove and poured two bowls. "Hey, it's done, Ushijima."

He moved the bowls to the table. Ushijima didn't respond at first. He had taken his phone out of his backpack, and he was now watching a cooking video, his head so close to his phone that it was lightly touching it. Shirabu didn't know if that was considered Ushijima's forehead or not.

Shirabu nudged the bowl into him. "Breakfast's served."

Ushijima shook and fluffed his feathers for a second. It happened so quickly that Shirabu used to think it was a flinch, but it happened as often as a sneeze, normal and harmless. Ushijima described it like an itch.

Ushijima ate from his bowl. He paused to say, "You have the best cooking out of everyone."

"I'm not surprised."

"Tendou once put uncooked noodles in the oven."

Shirabu choked on his sip of hot soup. He held his throat and coughed. "Wait until I'm not drinking something, next time," he rasped.

"Next time?"

"Don't say something funny next time." Shirabu started eating.

His phone rang, and he grumbled and jerked back in his chair to stand and grab it. Tendou chirped from the speaker.

"Guess what, Kenjirou? I bought a--"

Shirabu hung up and sat back down, returning to his food with barely any time wasted.

"I hope you realize that Tendou'll now come over himself," Ushijima said.

Shirabu scrambled to dial his number and get back on the phone with him. Tendou's obnoxious voicemail answered. Shirabu lowered the phone with a twisted scowl, his hand over the speaker. "He's not answering."

"He's on his way, then." Ushijima scooped his beak in for another bite.

"He _just_ called me. Did he drop his phone and run right after?" Shirabu crossed his arms and leaned back against his chair. "Maybe if we hurry up and eat, there won't be anything left for Tendou."

"I'm not going to hurry," Ushijima stated.

"Tendou never bothers you, but he bothers _me_ for food if I have extra, even if it's just because I haven't finished eating yet." Shirabu lifted his bowl and tilted it to drink and eat noodles at the same time.

Ushijima regarded him steadily. "You're going to choke again."

Shirabu made a noise of disagreement.

Someone knocked on the front door. The loud haunted shrieks imitating a doorbell confirmed that it was Tendou, along with the sight of him zooming back and forth past the window in a pink and red blur. Ushijima flew past Shirabu to open it.

"You're here? I can't believe this." Tendou leaned forward to find Shirabu as he flew in. "Kenjirou, if you're going to have a party, your first order of business is to invite me."

" _Ushijima_ didn't even tell me he was coming." Shirabu lowered his bowl. "We just finished breakfast. There's nothing left."

Ushijima and Tendou convened on the kitchen table. Shirabu rested the side of his head into his hand, closing his eyes by the forceful squash of his hand.

"Aren't you cold, Tendou?" Ushijima asked.

Tendou hummed. "Yeah, I know. But I have a special task force to deal with it."

Ushijima turned the words over in his head. "...What?"

Tendou walked around Shirabu's bowl, casually walking and swaying in his usual stroll. Shirabu didn't respond as Tendou pushed the bowl away.

Tendou dove into Shirabu's jacket and made his way into the partially zipped opening, his body expanding the jacket and pushing the zipper down further. Shirabu hung back in frozen shock, but that fell fast into a furious jaw clench.

"What're you _doing_?"

Tendou fumbled with his feet in the air, squirming to maneuver rightside-up. He shoved his head out. "This is the fastest way to get warm."

"I can also put you in the microwave." Shirabu unzipped his jacket with a yank and held Tendou out. "Just bring your own scarf."

He placed him on the table and pushed him away. Tendou came back to his feet and bounced to Ushijima.

"I barely fit... You or Eita-kun would be better."

"Shirabu clearly doesn't want that at all," Ushijima said.

"But it sounds so comfy."

"You're never allowed near me again," Shirabu interrupted. "Stay at least a meter away."

"Oh. Sorry if I made you touchy, Kenjirou." Tendou hopped closer. "Here, let me make it up to you."

"Tendou, please--"

Tendou flapped to the back of Shirabu's chair and rose on his feet to reach Shirabu's head. He drew his beak back and forth.

"Tendou, I don't want a _head scratch_."

Tendou didn't say anything.

Shirabu removed him and restrained him to a chair, tying him with the sleeves of his jacket. Tendou tittered.

"Alright, Shirabu, I get it. Haha. Let me go."

Shirabu collected the dishes and washed them in the sink. Ushijima pattered to meet Tendou.

"Are you alright?"

"No. Get me out, Wakatoshi."

Ushijima's wings flicked to shake his feathers again, his eyes calmly remaining on Tendou. "You reap what you sow, Tendou."

Tendou's beak clacked. "Is this a joke?" he asked.

"No."

Tendou leaned forward as much as he could against the jacket sleeves. "Are you betraying me?"

"You're taking this too seriously."

"You're not the one who's stuck."

"I'll let you out in a minute, after I clear the kitchen so you don't eat anything," Shirabu said as he went on to clean a pot. "If you weren't a _child_ I could've left you alone."

"You're younger than me, Kenjirou."

Shirabu didn't address Tendou again until he finished. He took his time in untying the jacket and freeing Tendou, barely containing his entertainment to the twitch of his mouth, and Ushijima stood nearby on the table, preening his wing.

"Thanks, thanks a lot, Kenjirou."

 

* * *

 

Ushijima and Tendou spent every unit of after-school time at track club, on the track outside the main school building. Warmth from the unobscured sun had melted away most of the snow for the day, leaving the team free to actually practice and exercise. Any extra snow was shoved aside. Heavy clouds still lingered on the horizon, and the chilly air carried the threat of future snow. None of them needed to wear clothing to keep warm, but the track coach, Washijou, an old and temperamental cockatiel, still wore a scarf.

The team could be seen in the distance from the windows of almost all the club rooms, including Shirabu's, the room for the student council.

Semi sat at the podium. "I know it started snowing early, and we don't know if it'll also snow during the school festival, but we can't cancel it."

"What're we going to do then?" Goshiki asked.

Shirabu lounged in his chair and balanced his cheek on his hand, giving Semi enough attention that he couldn't criticize Shirabu back.

Semi sighed. "Shirabu, do you have any suggestions?"

"No."

Semi's beak pulled into the tightness of a frown. "Fine. We'll use the gym and classrooms like Hayato originally suggested. Shirabu, you're in charge of organizing decorations."

Shirabu sat up. "What? No."

"You should've said something when I called on you."

Goshiki and a few other birds laughed. Shirabu didn't respond, his eyes ahead, past Semi.

"Make sure all of the paper decorations are colored with non-toxic dye, in case someone wants to eat some."

"Right..."

At the council's dismissal, Shirabu escaped and made his way downstairs to wait for the track club's practice to end. Reon, Yamagata, and Goshiki had already gone ahead and beaten him there.

Tendou brightened and extended his wings in a distant hug. "Kenjirou!"

Shirabu walked past him and crouched to greet Ushijima. "Hey Ushijima. How was practice?"

"Don't rope him into helping you with the festival," Yamagata said.

Shirabu shot him a glare. "That's _not_ what I was going to do."

"Whatever Shirabu's been assigned to do, I'm sure he's good enough to not need me." Ushijima started walking before he finished speaking. "I'm feeling hungrier than usual, so I'm going straight home to eat."

Shirabu stood and went silent.

"Why don't we all go to Shirabu's house? He can--"

"Goshiki, _stop talking_."

"But it's way easier for you to just cook for us instead of us trying to make our own food," Tendou reasoned.

Reon and Yamagata didn't voice agreement, but the pressure of their gazes spoke for them. Shirabu slid his foot forward to block their view.

"No."

"I'm sorry they're bothering you," Ushijima said.

"You really shouldn't be the one apologizing."

"But aren't you hungry, Wakatoshi?" Tendou asked.

Ushijima tilted his head. "You're the one who's keeping me from eating."

" _Fine_ , fine," Shirabu interrupted. "I'll get some food, just be quiet."

"Oh, that's kind of you, Shirabu," Yamagata said.

Shirabu muttered and looked further away from him.

When they arrived at his house, he curated a bowl of vegetables and shoved it to Tendou.

"This is all you're getting."

Tendou's eyes narrowed, considering Shirabu with the calculation of a rival instead of a hurt friend. "So I get this entire bowl to myself?"

"You're getting nothing else." Shirabu opened the oven and placed a pan of bread dough inside. It was really all it took to feed them, sometimes.

Ushijima approached Tendou. "Can I have a piece of carrot?"

"If you give me a piece of your bread."

Shirabu pressed his hand into his forehead to defend himself from a headache. Everyone stole from Tendou, and Shirabu ended up having to give him actual food.

Ushijima tore apart a roll and carried it with him to Shirabu. "It was extra doughy this time. It's nice."

Shirabu smothered his mouth with his hand to muffle his laugh as Ushijima ate the piece. Ushijima cocked his head and hummed a question around his bread.

"It's nothing," Shirabu said without a trace of laughter.

Ushijima swallowed his last bite. "If that's what you say."

They both watched Goshiki and Yamagata sit in Tendou's bowl and pick out leaves to eat. Goshiki had a surprising love for anything grown out of the earth, and he walked all over the bowl and nearly fell off several times.

"It's better when you can eat right from the ground as you harvest," Ushijima said.

"Have you tried that?"

Ushijima nodded. "I'm growing some right now in planters."

"I don't doubt it..." Shirabu could imagine him sitting in his planters to keep them warm, and demonstrating quiet pride when they grew.

Ushijima leaned forward to help himself to another lettuce leaf.

"I have a question for you," Shirabu said. Ushijima slanted his head to the side to express attention.

"All of us?" Tendou asked.

"Sure." Shirabu shrugged. "So I've been wondering, since I can barely understand any of you sometimes, do you think your thoughts in Japanese, or in...bird noises?"

Reon, Yamagata, and Tendou broke into loud cackling.

"In _bird noises_ ," Yamagata wheezed.

Shirabu shifted his eyes. "I still think there's something going on in your heads that I don't understand."

"You're overthinking it, whatever it is," Reon said.

Ushijima yawned and stretched his wings. He accidentally bumped one of them into Shirabu's arm, and he apologized and scooted away. Shirabu gave up and decided to try a piece of bread for himself.

 

* * *

 

Shirabu had been suspecting something strange about birds for a while now. It was always there; everyone wanted to be petted, or scratched, or fed. Amongst his friends, he could accept it, but after a couple first years helping him with the festival tried to preen paint out of his hair, he felt he finally had to ask someone.

"Ushijima, I have another question, and this time it's specific."

Ushijima turned towards him. He was standing on a fence, pausing from walking beside Shirabu. He drew his foot over the wood of the fence in brief idle.

"What is it?"

"Is it... _normal_ for birds to constantly bug me for a head scratch or something? If it's just you, then it's not weird, but I don't want to expect it from every damn bird." Shirabu's mouth shrunk into a reluctant shape, muffling himself and cutting himself off at the end of his sentence.

Ushijima calmed his feet. "Normal? I don't understand."

"Are strangers supposed to be friendly and want to be petted?" Shirabu asked in an embarrassed grumble.

Ushijima tilted his head. "Supposed to? Everyone likes being scratched and preened."

" _I_ don't. Don't you remember when Tendou tried to preen my head? He didn't even ask."

Ushijima tilted his head to the other side. "You don't?"

"No." Shirabu crossed his arms and glanced at the ground.

Ushijima returned his head to his normal height and shifted on his feet. "I didn't know it bothers you."

"When _strangers_ do it, it does." Shirabu sighed. "Have you ever been outside of Japan?"

Ushijima's eyes fixed on him in obedient curiosity. "No."

"Well, different countries have different customs. ...I can't think of an example, but there's a lot of differences between countries that make it hard for everyone to actually talk with each other."

"You think it's that way between you and us?"

"There's clearly a barrier, despite whatever Tendou thinks." Shirabu continued walking. "Annoying..."

Ushijima side-stepped along the fence-perch. "What did you think was the truth before?"

"That you were kind of humans in bird bodies."

Shirabu expected him to laugh, or at least chuckle, but he glanced up at the sky and entertained thoughtfulness.

"Don't think too hard about that," Shirabu said. He stuffed his hands into his pockets. "Forget I said anything."

Ushijima's expression didn't change. Shirabu could tell he was still thinking about it.

They arrived at Ushijima's house at the end of their walk, and Shirabu flopped over the couch and claimed it by lying on it, his feet hanging over the armrest.

"I'm serious. Don't tell anyone what I mentioned earlier," Shirabu said, his voice withdrawn from sheepishness.

"I won't." Ushijima's feet lightly scratched the floor as he travelled across the room. "Do you want to see my planters?"

Shirabu raised his head a few centimeters. "I don't want to move."

"I can bring one, then."

"No, don't do that--"

Ushijima had already turned and started walking away, trotting at a lightly pleased pace. Shirabu groaned and hurried to follow.

This wasn't the first time that Shirabu had visited Ushijima's house. His room was plain, with a clean window to see outside. Shirabu thought it'd be rude to ask to see the rest of it, so he never did.

They came to a room down the hallway that Shirabu had never entered before. Ushijima pushed the door open with his foot.

The room was small, but it was filled with small planters of leafy plants, some of them tiny and herbal. The herb planters sat at various heights on a desk or table. A large multi-paneled window replaced almost an entire wall, and it protruded out a little, curving with an almost round shape but still clearly full of angles, like a prism.

"This used to be the sun room, but my mother ended up not liking it. It's too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter for her. Now I house plants here. I turn on the heaters for fall and winter."

Shirabu released a grimace. "No wonder it's suddenly hot in here."

"It's not that hot in here. It's only warm enough for the plants to survive."

"I hate the heat, remember?" Shirabu traced a finger along a plant's leaf. "Still, this is a nice place. And I'm glad you don't use up scarves to wrap around any plants."

Ushijima dipped his head to the side in consideration. "I don't have that many scarves..."

"I thought you'd have a lot. Don't you like to be prepared?"

"There's no point in having too much of anything. You just need to have them." Ushijima stooped to a plant to survey its soil and stem. "I think I should water them. I'll be right back with some." He exited with a flurry of wing flaps.

Shirabu didn't say anything as Ushijima transported a watering can and carefully tilted it to deliver water to the planters. He meticulously inspected leaves by nosing around them, and he sniffed and drew his beak over the leaves and stems, careful not to puncture holes in anything. He emptied the rest of the water on a houseplant that approached the height of a small tree.

A faint screeching came from the front of the house, and Shirabu deflated. "Tendou's here."

"He said he was coming." Ushijima put the watering can away and opened the door to let him in.

Tendou waddled in. "Wakatoshi! And Kenjirou's here, right? He's always with you." Tendou raised his foot in greeting, opening it and closing it.

Shirabu hurried into the living room and sat on the couch. Tendou cawed in laughter.

"I'm not gonna take the couch from you."

Shirabu sat back against the cushions.

"Eita told me you're in charge of the festival decorations. How's that going?" Tendou asked. Despite what he said a few moments ago, he flew up and sat beside Shirabu on the couch. Ushijima did the same.

"Someone chewed through half a roll of streamers," Shirabu said.

"Ha! I bet you did something more embarrassing than that." Tendou swayed side to side. On one motion, he swiveled all the way and turned his head upside-down while still standing upright.

Shirabu let out a heavy breath. "I regret ever deciding to join the student council."

"Why'd you join in the first place?" Ushijima asked.

Tendou flipped back up. "He's the epitome of a hard-working student. Eita convinced you to join from that, huh, Kenjirou?"

"That doesn't matter," Shirabu cut in.

"I'm curious about something else. Why do you like birds?" Tendou posed the question with another odd angle, his head turned horizontal.

Shirabu briefly considered answering. The question then disappeared as he remembered his own question to Ushijima. He didn't think Tendou was a good choice to ask at all, but Tendou himself perpetuated some of the worst of the behavior, squeezing out food or scratches with annoying success.

"He's not going to say it," Ushijima said quietly to Tendou.

"I don't think either of you would like the answer." Shirabu slouched and let his feet slide on the floor.

"Oh? What is it?" Tendou scooted closer. Ushijima leaned forward to look past him.

Shirabu cracked his fingers. "You reminded me of dragons at first. But now you remind me of confused dinosaurs."

Tendou withdrew. The crook of his beak told Shirabu that he enjoyed it immensely.

Ushijima remained still. "Is that your favorite kind of bird? A dragon?"

"Wakatoshi, that's not a bird."

"Yeah, that's it, that's my favorite," Shirabu said.

"That wasn't sincere at all." Tendou moved closer to Ushijima and quieted his voice. "Don't listen to him."

Shirabu didn't plan on saying anymore, anyway.

 

* * *

 

Shirabu decided to approach the most reasonable one out of his friends: Reon. Still a bird, but a bird's opinion would be helpful.

After a student council meeting, he stopped at Reon's desk. Reon faced him without being verbally prompted.

"What is it?" Reon asked.

Shirabu looked down at him. "I have a problem. Can we go outside?"

Reon's resigned sigh gave the vague impression that he already knew what Shirabu wanted to say. Reon led them to an empty classroom.

"What's so important that you need privacy?" he asked.

"It's not so much important as it is rude. I think it'd bother everyone else if I said it in front of them." Shirabu sat down.

Reon flew up to another desk to stay near his height. "I'm going to need more than that, Shirabu."

Shirabu groaned and lowered his head a little forward, his eyes on the desk. "Is it 'normal' for birds to constantly want attention and to be petted?"

Reon chuckled. "Yes, that's normal. All birds do that and feel that way."

"Do birds like me or something? Why do they all want to be petted?"

Reon stared at him for a moment, but the silence couldn't last, and he erupted into laughter.

"Shirabu? Is that what you're concerned about?"

Shirabu shifted his mouth to the side, tightening it smaller. "It's _irritating_ and it's a _problem_."

"Why's it a problem?"

"If everyone's so _friendly_ , then I can't tell ordinary friends apart from close ones."

Reon shook his head. "That's not important. Or at least, it shouldn't be."

Shirabu couldn't bring himself to even entertain an example of why it was important. He dismissed the conversation, and they headed to the track to meet with Tendou, Semi, and Ushijima.

Ushijima bowed his head in greeting. "Something kept you two behind?"

Reon shrugged. "A little. Were you waiting for us?"

Tendou motioned over the other club members. "We've been out here so long that half the team died of starvation. Look for yourself. Half of them are gone."

"I seriously doubt that," Shirabu said.

"You know, you always heckle about how much we eat, but you're just as bad," Kawanishi said. "You're a huge human, and you eat a ton of food."

"That's just because I'm so big."

"I bet you can eat a whole cake by yourself. Or a pizza." Tendou nodded. "Ten, ten's good. You should make ten cakes."

"No."

Ushijima grew restless on his feet, and he glanced at the sky. "It's getting late. We should get going."

"Whose house this time?" Yamagata asked.

Kawanishi waved a wing. "I actually have homework to do, and I know it'll never get done if I 'study' with you guys. I have to go."

"Bye Kawanishi!" Goshiki raised his foot in farewell.

Shirabu lifted his own foot too, and Kawanishi laughed as he walked away.

Everyone else accompanied Ushijima to his house. His house was the favorite. It wasn't spacious or fancy, but everyone still took every chance they could get to visit Ushijima and learn more about him. His atmospheric warmth cultivated his own gravity of sorts.

Ushijima presented everyone with small sandwiches. The only ingredients were bread and sprouts, but Shirabu forced himself to eat one.

"Hate it that much, huh?" Semi asked him.

Shirabu scowled. "I don't _hate_ it. I just can't taste anything."

"It's not that bad. It tastes fine." Semi lowered his head and took another bite.

Semi warbled lowly, and Shirabu gave in and pet his neck, barely moving his hand so he wouldn't seem like he used that much effort.

Ushijima joined them. "Shirabu, what do you think of--"

Semi pointed at Ushijima's head with his beak. "You have a feather on your head."

Ushijima leaned his head back, and the fluffy wisp of a feather floated off him. "Is it gone?" he asked, still holding his head upside-down.

"Yeah," Shirabu said. "So what were you going to ask? If I liked the sandwiches?"

"No, I wanted to know if you liked baby birds. Goshiki said he doesn't like the way their feathers look."

Shirabu shrugged. "I don't really know what they look like."

"When they've kinda grown into some feathers, the feathers look like this." Semi retrieved the discarded wispy feather and placed it on the couch.

"When young birds grow older, they grow feathers over the down feathers, but we all still have them." Ushijima ran his beak through his own feathers, and he pushed some aside to reveal his downy fluff, like the one that Semi retrieved.

"I think Tsutomu meant the really sharp looking kind even before you get those feathers," Semi said.

"I get the idea, you don't have to show me." Shirabu dismissed Ushijima with a gesture. "And I really don't belong in this conversation."

"What do human babies look like?" Ushijima asked.

"Ugly."

Semi hid his chortling under his wing.

"Why're you laughing and hiding? It's true. They're ugly."

Ushijima's feathers settled closer to himself, almost deflating. "You think so? Isn't that harsh?"

"No. It's the truth."

"If Wakatoshi says it's harsh, then it's _harsh_ ," Semi said.

Ushijima let his head turn to the side. His eyes returned to usual calmness, slightly bigger but serious. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You usually don't give strong opinions." Semi motioned at the wayward down feather with his foot. "If anything, you'll ask for an opinion."

"Now that you mention it, it's true, he'll just ask for opinions... I already knew Ushijima doesn't talk about his opinions, though."

"Of course you already knew."

Shirabu leaned lower to Semi, crowding his shoulders slightly closer together to hide his voice. "I heard Ushijima call Tendou 'too serious' recently."

"I don't believe you."

Ushijima's wings relaxed as he sat back. He patiently waited for them to finish talking, despite being forgotten for a moment.

"So, Shirabu, how were the _sandwiches_?" Semi asked. He leaned to an angle to mock, as if he wanted to hear.

Ushijima twitched to alertness.

Shirabu gritted his teeth. "They're delicious, as always."

"That doesn't sound sincere."

"Semi gave me a headache, that's why."

"Oh." Ushijima shuffled to Shirabu's leg. "What did he do?"

"I didn't do anything."

"His usual self brought it out."

Ushijima climbed over Shirabu's clothes and sat on his knee, turning his head to face Shirabu. "I was going to say something else, but I forgot what it was."

"Of course you did." Shirabu shook his head and placed his hand on Ushijima's head. Ushijima warbled in appreciation, his deep voice humming.

Shirabu removed it and talked to Semi for a few minutes. Without anyone holding him up, Ushijima swayed and leaned a little to the side. He eventually fell over and landed against Shirabu's arm.

Shirabu hovered his hands around hm. "He rarely falls asleep in the middle of the day..."

"I do it all the time," Semi confessed. "But Wakatoshi's different. He goes to sleep early, and wakes up early. I have no idea if he naps, though."

Shirabu stared down at him. "Don't birds sleep on one foot?"

"If you're _perching_ ," Tendou said. "I don't like sleeping on a perch."

"Do birds snore?"

"I don't think so," Reon answered.

"Do you sleep walk? Or sleep talk?"

"I don't know."

Shirabu snorted. "Do you know anything about yourselves at all?"

"Of course we do." Tendou huffed and turned his head in the air, without any of the affected sentiment that came with a huff.

Ushijima rumbled in his sleep. Shirabu returned his hand to Ushijima and petted his back. "Does he get startled when he wakes up from a sudden nap?"

"We can find out." Tendou clicked his foot on the table. "Let's pretend we don't notice Wakatoshi's asleep."

"No," Shirabu said.

"And then when he wakes up, we can act like no time passed. He'll get so confused! It'll be funny."

"No," Shirabu repeated.

"Why not?"

"It's rude. Get it through your thick skull."

"I don't think it'll bother him."

"It's a _terrible_ idea," Semi complained. He nipped Tendou's wing, and Tendou squawked.

"That hurt!"

"Leave Wakatoshi alone." Semi removed himself from the table and flapped off of it to a nearby chair.

Shirabu carefully rearranged Ushijima and supported him beside his arm. Ushijima didn't stir. His head only dropped to the side because of being moved around, his eyes remaining closed in a gentle and natural consequence of falling asleep. He didn't wake up until everyone had become bored and talked out, and had actually devolved into doing homework.

Ushijima's slow and sleepy blinks brought him to full wakefulness. He fumbled to stand upright, away from Shirabu's body, and he walked to the edge of the couch and hopped off. He went to his backpack and retrieved his own homework.

Tendou muttered, "He didn't even react."

 

* * *

 

Ushijima seemed to be unfazed by anything. Unflappable. Shirabu had never met anyone as calm as him, which was completely at odds with any of the other birds, and even humans. His eyes carried a calm steadiness that only slightly changed and shifted to show emotion. They crinkled for a slight smile, narrowed and grew heavy with a glare or glance of slight judgment, and softened in sleepiness. Most of the time he just stared with his usual brightness, always curious. It sometimes unnerved Shirabu to be faced with that kind of interest and focus as the target.

Shirabu approached Ushijima early in the morning to walk to school together, and Ushijima, for once, wouldn't meet his eyes. Ushijima progressed along the top of the fence without looking at him. He didn't dodge Shirabu with noticeable or pointed intent, but no matter how casual it was, it was still there.

Shirau raised an eyebrow. "What's the matter? You're quieter than usual today."

"I'm a little tired."

"...Really? You're really already tired this early in the morning? You love mornings."

"That doesn't mean I can't be tired." Ushijima averted his eyes, a suspicious sign. He was a terrible liar.

"Want me to carry you, then?"

Ushijima's wings squared with a subtle twitch. "No."

"Okay." Shirabu shrugged and didn't question it any further. He left it for Ushijima to consider.

Despite the silence, Ushijima still stole glances at hm. Poorly. Shirabu saw them. Ushijima tried to stay right by Shirabu's side or drift a little behind him, but he never walked ahead of Shirabu.

"Are you sick?" Shirabu finally asked as they entered a hallway.

"No."

"Should you really be at school today if you're tired?"

"This isn't that bad." Ushijima dipped his head. "I have to turn here for class. I'll see you later."

Shirabu sighed and slid into his chair in his classroom.

Kawanishi leaned out of his chair and peered at him. "You look annoyed, somehow," he said. "Something happened already this early in the day?"

Shirabu sunk. "Ushijima's...crabby today."

Kawanishi ducked to dampen his laughter into his wing. "Yeah right."

"I'm serious."

"There's no way that he can be crabby."

"Do I joke so often that you think I'm joking now?"

Kawanishi slowly blinked, so slowly that for a moment he closed his eyes. "If you're telling the truth, then why would he be like that? Are you rubbing off on him?"

Shirabu grimaced. "God, I hope not."

"Why not?"

"I don't want him bitter all the time."

Kawanishi clacked his beak. "So you don't want to put up with someone bitter? What about everyone around you?"

"That's not what I meant." Shirabu groaned. "I give up complaining about this." He fell quiet, and Kawanishi returned to sitting upright in his chair.

At lunchtime, Shirabu opted to leave the classroom to visit Ushijima. Kawanishi joined him to find evidence for himself.

"Just watch," Shirabu mumbled to him before he opened the door.

Semi and Tendou were clustered around Ushijima's desk. Ushijima appeared the way he normally did, his eyes open with soft curiosity. He listened to Tendou and Semi quietly as they talked and argued.

"Nothing's wrong or different." Kawanishi eyed Shirabu. "You're out of it today." He chortled and went back to their classroom.

"I'm fine," Shirabu muttered to himself.

He sat down next to them. As soon as Ushijima noticed him, Ushijima scooted away and directed his attention to Semi.

"Are you feeling better?" Shirabu asked him.

"Yeah," Ushijima said quietly.

Semi swiveled. "Feeling better? What happened?"

"I was tired this morning." Ushijima nodded affirmation.

"So are you better?"

"Yes."

"Why're you acting the same, then?"

"I'm not acting the same."

Shirabu's mouth dropped. Ushijima's acting abilities demonstrated no improvements, and his behavior remained the same. He avoided Shirabu's eye. This was outright lying.

Shirabu leaned lower until his head came onto his crossed arms. "Do you want to come over later, Ushijima?"

Ushijima shuffled in place. "...Yes."

Semi slid closer to Shirabu. "What did you do? He's suddenly quiet."

"I didn't do anything," Shirabu hissed, offended..

"Well, he was fine before you came."

Shirabu faced him to display all of his sincerity. "You know I care about him. I wouldn't do anything to irritate him."

"Alright."

Ushijima busied himself with consuming his lunch. He didn't give any indication of acknowledgment of Semi and Shirabu's conversation.

Shirabu extended his hand. "Do you want some of my food?"

Ushijima took the vegetable dumplings from him without a word. He bent his head down and nibbled.

Shirabu lapsed into eating as well. He took his time to stay with them and talk, but when lunchtime ended, he said goodbye and returned to his classroom. Ushijima had barely spoken.

"Ushijima's still acting strange," Shirabu told Kawanishi. "What should I do?"

"Nothing. Since he hasn't changed."

Shirabu groaned and opened his notebook with a flick. "Why are you guys so hard to understand?"

Kawanishi shrugged. "We understand each other perfectly. It's just you."

"So if you screamed because I choked you, would everyone understand what you're saying?"

"If I was choking, I don't think I could breathe enough to scream." Kawanishi made a clicking noise. "But even a newly hatched _baby bird_ knows what a scream means."

"If that's the case, then if I scream, you should know you need to come help me."

Kawanishi snorted, and his clipped breaths evolved into full laughter. "You, _screaming_?"

Shirabu lazily drew on an open page of his notebook. "Don't sound so entertained."

"But you put the image in my head. I want to see you shriek now."

"No."

"Squawk?"

"I don't even think that's possible," Shirabu said.

Kawanishi hummed without any disappointment. "True." After a moment, he added, "I'll make sure to come rescue you when you're screaming because Ushijima's just completed his transformation into a dinosaur."

"Quit it."

"No, really, you might be right after all. He's changing. We can't ignore the facts and just stand by while--"

Shirabu tore out the scribbled page and threw it at Kawanishi's head. Kawanishi closed his eyes against the attack.

"Alright, I'll stop." Kawanishi picked up his pencil and very slowly wrote the date at the top of the page. Shirabu stopped bothering him.

After school ended for the day, Shirabu hurried to meet Ushijima at the door of his classroom. Track club didn't have practice for the day, and the student council didn't assemble, either. Students crowded the hallways with flurries of feathers accompanying them. The after-school rush came after Shirabu already arrived, but he grimaced at the thought of going through it once Ushijima came out and joined him.

"Hey, Ushijima." Shirabu looked down at him. "How was school today?"

"Pleasant. Tendou didn't rile the other students." Ushijima still didn't meet his eyes.

"That's a plus."

Tendou caught up to them. "Wakatoshi! Kenjirou!" he called as he exited the classroom. "Let's go home together, before it starts snowing again."

Ushijima rumbled his displeasure. "We should get going, then."

Shirabu opened the door out and held it for them to leave. "The festival's tomorrow," he said. "What're you two going to do for it?"

Tendou raised a wing. "I'm going to draw!" He lowered it. "I mean, I already finished, but I drew."

"I'm transporting some of my flowers to showcase them," Ushijima said.

"Eh? Why? Aren't you afraid they'll get frozen from the snow?" Tendou asked.

"That...that's true. I didn't consider that." Ushijima let out a breath. It puffed in a cloud of cold air. "I still want to do it."

Tendou stared at him. "That's _weird_. Are you sure, Wakatoshi?"

"I'm positive."

As Ushijima looked ahead and enjoyed the scenery, Tendou leaned to Shirabu. He crouched to listen.

"Wakatoshi isn't acting like his usual self," Tendou whispered.

"You've _barely_ noticed?" Shirabu asked in a hiss.

"Okay, okay, you were right. Should we do something?"

"First, stop talking. He can probably hear us, you know."

"I can," Ushijima said quietly.

Tendou's squawk contained so much force that he was startled backward. "You heard us?"

"Of course he heard us. He's right in front of us." Shirabu sighed. "You're not offended, are you, Ushijima?"

Ushijima hummed. "I hear you talk behind my back all the time."

Tendou cried in laughter. "You're so mean, Kenjirou!"

"That's not what he _meant_. Did you mean it like that?" Shirabu asked Ushijima.

"Like what?"

"Like I complain about you and criticize you all the time."

Ushijima's eyes narrowed. "What're you saying?"

"'Talk behind my back' is figurative for 'saying mean things about me without me knowing,' which I don't do."

Ushijima blinked. His face drew together with the heaviness of confusion. "What?"

"Don't worry about it." Shirabu reassured him with a brief stroke on his back. Ushijima twitched.

"What's the matter?" Tendou asked.

"Nothing. No need to concern yourself."

Tendou exchanged a glance with Shirabu. "Whatever you say, Wakatoshi."

When they came to their normal fork in the road where they separated to go home, Shirabu hesitated.

Ushijima stopped walking and looked up at him. "Aren't you coming?"

"Actually..." Shirabu scrubbed his foot on the floor. "I have to go to Tendou's house for a while."

"What? No you don't--"

Shirabu swung his foot in front of Tendou. "We're going, Tendou."

Ushijima watched them leave with even deeper confusion. Tendou flapped up and flew to Shirabu's ear.

"What're you doing? Isn't it kinda bad to leave Wakatoshi hanging after he just misunderstood what we said?"

"I don't think he can misunderstand _that_ badly to the point where he flips. And I have to ask you something today."

Tendou perched on Shirabu's shoulder, his feet curling a bit for security. "What is it?"

Shirabu dreaded the note of smug pride in his voice. He grumbled. "Don't let it get to your head that I'm asking you. Anyway... Do birds act strange when they're sick? I've heard that, but it sounded like a rumor."

Tendou snickered. "I didn't know you listened to gossip."

"Focus, Tendou."

"Alright, alright. It's kinda true. But y'know, anything can make someone act weird." Tendou came down to semi-seriousness. "Maybe he's just sad. Or he has something important on his mind. Or he's having nightmares! Or..."

"You're not that helpful," Shirabu mumbled.

"Are you still coming over?"

"...Might as well." Shirabu trudged up to Tendou's house, Tendou still on his shoulder. His reluctance weighed him down into a grudging slouch.

 

* * *

 

Shirabu sat slumped on a chair at a stray table. The gym and hallways were decorated, and birds filled the building to tour the campus for the cultural festival. True to his word, Ushijima brought his flowers and exhibited them. He stood by them in the gym, almost always looking at them, as if he was guarding them.

Shirabu forced himself to get up and walk to Ushijima. By the time his feet reached his destination, he managed to break out of his fatigue to greet him.

"Ushijima. Your flowers look great."

Ushijima stirred. He turned his head to tend to a plant. "Thank you. It means a lot coming from you. If it was possible to take a flower without harming the plant, I'd give you a flower."

Shirabu didn't say anything for a minute. He spent the time reeling from the return of Ushijima's warm behavior. He still avoided eye contact, but it was progress.

Shirabu stooped to appear in Ushijima's eyesight. "Are you enjoying yourself? The festival isn't completely supposed to be just work."

"I am." Ushijima nodded, dipping his head and closing his eyes. The gentle movement evoked some of the sentiment he usually carried with himself.

"What do you think of the decorations?" Shirabu asked.

"You did a good job."

"I had some help from first year and second years. They wouldn't stop bugging me."

"They were probably excited to work with you. Remember, most birds don't have the chance to be with a human."

Shirabu blew out a breath of air that unsettled his bangs. "Right..."

Ushijima closed his eyes again. His beak shifted into a ghost of a smile, as much as it could, and the edges of his eyes crinkled. "I count myself lucky."

Heat flashed up Shirabu's neck. "What?"

"I'm glad we met. Regardless of what the rest of humanity's like, you've given a wonderful impression of them. You're special in that way, too."

"What brought this on? Why're you saying this?" Shirabu asked.

Ushijima seemed to come to his senses. He shuffled to angle away, and he ducked his head a little. Now that Shirabu could compare both types of Ushijima behavior when one appeared immediately after the other, he noticed another element to the avoidance -- shyness with the quietness. His feathers hid his skin, but if it was visible, Shirabu bet that he'd see a blush.

Shirabu clapped his hand over his mouth. " _Fuck_ ," he said quietly to himself.

Ushijima lifted his head. "Excuse me?"

"Nothing, it's nothing." Shirabu stood. "I have to go."

"Shirabu?"

Shirabu restrained himself while he was within Ushijima's earshot, but when he was sure Ushijima couldn't hear, he laughed, hard. He rested his hand on a nearby wall for balance.

Tendou peered up at him. "Are you okay, Kenjirou?"

"No." Shirabu twisted and bent his arm between the wall and his forehead, leaning as if he was laying his head on a desk. His laughter flared up again and shook his body.

Tendou tilted his head owlishly upside-down to look at Shirabu. "What happened?"

"No way am I telling you."

"Oh, now you _have_ to tell me. You can't tease me like that." Tendou straightened and flapped his wings to assist him in a hop. "What is it?"

"No."

"That's not an answer."

Shirabu slid away from the wall. "Leave, before I figure out how to blame this on you."

Tendou cawed. "Fine. You have a point. I shouldn't underestimate your crankiness."

"Thank you," Shirabu said with complete honesty. He swiveled and walked out of the gym before Tendou could do anything else.

Shirabu's laughter died when he reached the hallway. Fewer birds were around, and he felt more comfortable sighing and letting his breath out. He wound up choking.

He still wanted to laugh. The bizarreness of the situation didn't just linger, it smacked Shirabu and smothered his thoughts. That explained his inability to think about anything other than how _absurd_ it was that a _bird_ had developed feelings for a _human_.

Shirabu retreated to an empty classroom and sat. His duties for the festival were over. He could rest. Semi might chew him out for neglecting the implied social obligation, but technically, he couldn't be held accountable.

Someone opened the door. Shirabu didn't bother to look, and he didn't recognize who it was until they spoke.

"Shirabu?" Semi asked. "What're you doing here?"

"Semi, I have a huge problem."

Semi walked closer. "What?" He flapped up to the desk Shirabu sat at.

Shirabu unfolded his arms on the desk and let them fall with a thud. "It's obviously not weird that birds and humans can be friends when birds are like this. Is it weird that...that a bird..." Shirabu groaned. "I think Ushijima likes me, and I don't know what did it."

Semi snorted. "Of course he does."

"Why do you sound so sure?"

"He thought _you_ had feelings for him."

Shirabu thought the day's revelations had immunized him against further surprises, but it didn't. Shirabu stared blankly at Semi instead of giving an immediate response.

"...Shirabu?"

"Why? Why did he think that? What'd you do?"

"I didn't do anything," Semi snapped with his crest briefly raised. "If anything, it's what _you_ did, bothering everyone with questions about birds and feelings and everything else I can't remember. You sent mixed signals and got him reconsidering a few things."

Shirabu pressed his hand into his forehead. "So it's my own fault somehow?"

"If anyone."

"If anyone," Shirabu repeated hollowly. He flicked the edge of the table, a variation of stomping his foot. "I changed my mind. I hate birds."

"Why?"

"We don't speak the same language."

"That's a little dramatic," Semi said.

Shirabu glared. With renewed intensity of attention, he noticed that Semi's shoulders were shaking, slightly, as if he was holding himself back from laughing.

"You think this is funny," Shirabu said.

"It _is_ ridiculous. I've never heard of anything like this happening." Semi's voice trembled with the effort to keep himself collected.

"Obviously. Birds haven't even been an intelligent species until recently."

"You somehow crushed on a _bird_ ," Semi teased.

"You, hold on--"

Semi muffled suspiciously entertained noises into his wing. He hopped off the desk. "I came to check on you, and since you're fine, I'll return to the festival. You should come, too."

"There's nothing I have to do."

"Come anyway." Semi encouraged him with a chirp.

Shirabu followed him out. He steered clear of the gym to avoid Ushijima, and he stuck with Semi to have an excuse for unavailability for the rest of the day. They cleaned the hallways and gym after the festivities, along with the rest of the decorating committee. Shirabu ignored the first years' antics and gave extra focus to anything in his hands.

"When are you going to talk to him?" Semi asked Shirabu.

"Next month."

"Be reasonable."

Shirabu paused. "A month's reasonable, but I guess maybe next week."

"Shirabu."

"I'll get around to it." Shirabu removed a banner from the wall and folded it to pack it in the box next to him.

"It's probably as bizarre for him as it is for you," Semi said. "He might be a quiet bird sometimes, but he actually spends a lot of time thinking. It's pretty easy for him to secretly overreact."

"Yeah...I know."

 

* * *

 

Shirabu didn't join Ushijima in the morning walk to school. He was running later than usual from baking fresh hot melon bread for Ushijima, and he carried it carefully in a container. A few days had passed since the festival. Even more time had passed since Shirabu had baked him something, and once he remembered that, he couldn't let it hang over himself.

"Ushijima?" Shirabu approached him in the hallway outside Ushijima's classroom. "I brought you some more bread. It's been a while since I made you some."

Ushijima turned and looked up at him. "Shirabu?"

"Hey." Shirabu stooped to join him on the floor.

"Did I do something wrong? You haven't spoken to me for a few days."

"No, you didn't. You might want to be more direct if you ever have something to tell me, though." Shirabu nudged the box of bread to Ushijima. "Take it."

"Thank you." Ushijima tore it open and ate a piece right away.

Shirabu waited for him to finish. He crouched with his hands on his knees, his head hovering above his hands. "How is it?'

"It's really good." Ushijima pulled off a chunk and extended his foot with it. "Would you like a piece?"

"Only a little." Shirabu accepted it and sat on his knees to eat it.

Ushijima's beak managed another smile with a faint pleased light in his eyes. Alongside the crumbs on his face, he looked a little goofy from the happiness of eating.

Shirabu didn't have the heart to confront him about anything today. He will. Eventually.

**Author's Note:**

> (General A/N that exists at the end of all my fics): I find unsolicited concrit really rude, I'm not looking for any. Please don't tell me someone was OOC/something happened you didn't like/it's too short/etc. in any bookmarks or comments.


End file.
